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Monday, May 7, 2012

Victory Celebration Post

My decision to write a post tonight was contingent on the outcome of the Dodgers/Giants game. Thankfully, the Dodgers dominated tonight by winning 9-1. Matt Kemp had a great game tonight by going 3-3 with a walk. Ted Lilly continued his Kershaw-esque season by having another great outing. Even Adam Kennedy got a base hit and a run batted in.

Watching a great game like that gave me the energy and the drive to write some words today. All my readers can thank the Dodgers for winning tonight because they get to read a Platter post.

I have gotten some TTM returns from some Dodgers of the 80s. I have put some good use to the many 80s cards in white boxes scattered on my bedroom floor. Getting a 1989 Topps Alfredo Griffin card signed is a good use.

Griffin was on the 1988 World Series winning Dodger team. He had over 300 at-bats that season with an OBP% of .259. Griffin had 16 at-bats in the '88 World Series against the Oakland Athletics. He posted a .278 OBP% in that series. Way to step your game up when it counts, Alfredo.

Griffin now coaches in the Anaheim Angel organization. I sent this card and a couple others to Arizona where the Angels play spring training games. He had some success in Toronto by leading the league in triples at 15 in 1980. I mentioned that in the letter that I sent him because the triple is one of my favorite plays in baseball.

Another return that I received was from former Dodger catcher Joe Ferguson. I love it when a Dodger player signs a Dodger card with a blue sharpie. The signature always looks nicer.

When I looked at Ferguson's stats for this post, I thought that they looked similar to another former Dodger catcher, Rod Barajas. I scrolled down the page on Baseball Reference and it shows that Barajas is the seventh most similar batter to Ferguson. I was close.

Franklin Stubbs works as a coach in the Dodgers minor league system. I sent this card to Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. Stubbs decided to scribble on it in ballpoint pen. Luckily, I sent him two other cards and he actually signed his name in ballpoint pen on those ones.

Every major league baseball team should have an autograph inspector. When a player gets a letter from a fan that wants an autograph, the inspector then checks the players signature before the item is returned to the fan. There needs to be some quality control. The Dodgers new ownership group should get on that.

All Dodger through the mail autos will be in blue sharpie and looking sweet. I would definitely apply for this position.

Thanks to the above players for taking the time to sign my baseball cards.